Tony Mowbray explains Isaac Lihadji's Sunderland situation and when he could start a Championship fixture

The 20-year-old winger has made four senior appearances for The Black Cats off the bench since moving to Wearside from French club Lille.

But with regular widemen Patrick Roberts and Jack Clarke available and a late push for the play-offs still possible, Lihadji is unlikely to start against Hull or Cardiff over the Easter weekend.

Asked when the Frenchman and other young players could be ready to start a match, Mowbray told the Echo: “I think while we are still in that mix in my mind, I’m not sure of the stats and the data, Clarke and Roberts are difficult for me to leave out of the team in this moment if we are seriously moving forward about trying to win a football match.

“I don’t see it being a problem making substitutions and giving game time that way. How soon will they get a start? Probably when I believe that the season we aren’t going to get there, we can’t win four on the bounce of these games coming up or it’s difficult to.

“All these young players who are looking for game time, even some of the home kids from the academy, there are some kids that I like enough to give them opportunities, put them on the bench and put them on as well so they start getting some exposure. I’ll know in my mind when that day is.

“I’m still trying to get the balance right between, ‘listen you are doing really well, keep going, keep fighting’ giving them cause to fight for really. They need to know that if we can win, come back in and so-and-so has lost and we jump three places that we can almost touch where we want to try to get to.

“If we don’t that’s ok but I still need to give them some confidence and belief that they are doing well. At this moment we can’t give up but we can still give vital and important game time to young players because it will help the team moving forward with the experience they get this year.”

Like Jewison Benntte and some of Sunderland’s other signings from abroad, Lihadji has also had to overcome a language barrier since moving to England.

“Obviously Jewison is not going to play this season anymore, but it’s getting there bit by bit,” added Mowbray.

“Isaac I feel is the least English speaking of the French kids but there are four or five of them around him now that whenever I want to get a message across it gets to him very quickly.

“It’s just on-pitch stuff sometimes that is difficult, come inside, let your full-back go around the outside or stay wide and let him run inside of you.

“There’s a lot of work going on behind the scenes to try and develop their languages, a lot of lessons. Instead of going home after training, after lunch, he goes in one of these rooms with his English teacher and that will come, I’m sure it will.

“I don’t see it being a major problem moving forward for the club.”